NOTE: I do not own any of 'The O.C' characters… you can thank FOX. If you have any questions or comment you can e-mail me at liverbrain22@hotmail.com
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Chapter SixSeth and Summer, who was asleep, sat in the living room of the Atwood's house, watching late night T.V. Summer had fallen asleep on Seth's shoulder over an hour ago. It was getting close to one in the morning and Seth was getting really worried. It wasn't like Ryan to not come home, or maybe it was? Seth thought to himself and then decided to wake up Summer.
Seth shook Summer violently. "Summer…" He whispered into her ear. "Wake up…."
"Huh?" Summer groaned, opening her eyes. "Cohen, what the hell are you doing here?" Summer questioned, but then she realized she never went home. She was still at Marissa's house. "Is there something wrong?" She asked, fully awake now and straightening herself up from the couch.
"Ryan's not home yet, and I tried calling his cell phone, like, an hour ago and no one answered."
"Try again, then." Summer said, handing him the phone.
Seth dialed Ryan's cell phone and there was still no answer. As soon as he hung up the phone the phone started to ring. Seth picked it up. "Hello?"
"Seth it's—"
"Dad, why are you calling here so late? Is something wrong?" Seth asked.
"No, well not really…Ryan's here."
"Why is Ryan over there? We've been waiting up for him all night." Seth questioned.
"Well, he just got here." Sandy laughed nervously. "I thought we were getting robbed. I heard someone in the poolhouse and it turned out it was him."
"Is he okay, Dad?" Seth asked.
"He's pissed drunk. I don't think he realizes he doesn't live here anymore. He won't let me take him home. Mom's with him now trying to cool him off. He's pretty upset."
"Did you want me to come over? I could take him back home."
Sandy hesitated. "I think it's best if he just sleeps it off in the poolhouse tonight. I don't want Marissa, Ben or Conner seeing him like this."
"Okay, well I guess I'll call you in the morning to see how he's doing."
"Okay, bye." Sandy said then hung up the phone.
Summer tapped her foot on the ground waiting for Seth to explain everything.
"Ryan's at my parent's house and he's drunk." Seth explained. "He's a little messed up and doesn't realize that's not where he lives." Seth stopped and then looked at his watch. "Did you just want to crash here tonight? It's getting late." Seth asked.
"Uh, sure I guess. I'll just hop into bed with Marissa. She probably needs some company." Summer said, and then gave Seth a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight." She then left.
Seth was a little set back by the kiss on the cheek and stood there as he watched Summer make her way up the stairs. After a few minutes of standing there, he finally decided to go check up on Ben. He was starting to notice that since he had been there, Ben wasn't sleeping. He made his way upstairs to Ben's room and peeked inside. Ben was lying down in Aden's bed with book on his chest and a flashlight in his hand. The flashlight was still on and Ben was fast asleep. Seth went over to him, turned off the flashlight and took his book. He noticed that it wasn't a book, it was a photo album. Seth flipped through the album and looked at the photos. Seth regretted not being there for any of them.
After putting the photo album down on Ben's desk, he covered Ben with his sheets and left the room. He went back downstairs in the basement and made up his bed on the couch. He knew he wouldn't get a lot of sleep tonight, but he should at least try.
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Ryan woke up in a strange place. He didn't know where he was. He thought he was dreaming when he finally realized he was in the Cohen's poolhouse. He sat up in his old bed and regretted it as soon as his head rushed with pain. He groaned out loud as soon as he started to remember last night's events. Aden was dead and he couldn't do anything about it. He slowly got up from the bed, trying to steady his head. He realized he was about to vomit so he dashed to the bathroom. After he heaved all he could, he walked back into the room. Sandy was just coming in with two cups of coffee, one in each hand.
"Hey, how you feeling?" Sandy asked, offering Ryan a cup of coffee.
Ryan accepted the coffee. "I'm fine…. Sorry about last night." He said, sitting down on the bed.
Sandy waved his free hand in the air. "It's okay, don't worry about it. We were worried about you." Sandy stopped and watched Ryan. "Trey called me this morning."
Ryan looked up at Sandy. "Oh?"
"He was concerned. Said you left in a hurry and you were pretty upset."
"I'm okay now, Sandy." Ryan said standing up and placing the coffee down on the night table. "I should get going. Marissa and the boys need me." Sandy nodded his head and followed Ryan outside.
"Are you okay to drive? I could drive you home?" Sandy asked.
"No, it's okay. I'm fine now, Sandy." Ryan insisted, getting into his car. Sandy shut the door for him and stood back. "Thanks."
"If you need anything, call us." Sandy said. Ryan nodded his head and drove off.
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Seth and Summer sat at the Atwood's kitchen table eating breakfast.
"So…." Seth said, taking in another spoon full of cheerios. "It's Tuesday, what are your plans?"
"Well, I'm definitely getting Marissa up and out of bed. She needs to start doing the things she used to do before Aden. What are you doing today?"
Seth shrugged. "Well, hanging around here, I guess. Ryan should be home soon. My dad called me an hour ago and said he was on his way over."
Summer stood up from the kitchen table. "Well, I'm going to go see if Marissa is up yet." She walked out of the kitchen and upstairs. She knocked softly on Marissa's door and walked in. "Hey, Marissa." Summer whispered, sitting next to her on the bed. "Come on, Coop. You need to pull yourself together."
"Summer, please leave me alone. I just want to be left alone." Marissa pleaded.
"Coop, you know I can't do that. I really think you need to get out of this house and grab some fresh air. Do it for the boys, please. Conner keeps on asking what is wrong with you and I don't know what to tell him!"
"Aden's dead, Summer."
"Coop, please don't do this to yourself." Summer said, shaking her. "Come on, get up. There was then a soft knock on the door and Ben appeared. "Ben…." She noticed he was in his school uniform. "You don't have to go to school today, you know."
Ben shook his head and shut the door. He went back to his room and grabbed his book bag, before going downstairs. As soon as he got downstairs, he heard his dad and uncle talking. He stopped short and sat on the stairs listening to them.
"God, Ryan….what the hell happened last night?" Seth asked.
"I don't know, I—I went over to Trey's. We had a fight and I left." Ryan explained. "Seth, don't worry, I'm fine."
"You smell like booze and cigarettes, Ryan." Seth replied. "Are you really okay? Look, I'm going to stay with you guys for awhile." Ryan shook his head and was about to speak but Seth stopped him. "It's clear enough to me that neither you nor Marissa can handle this situation. Ryan, you still have two kids. How do you think they felt when their dad didn't come home last night? Jesus, Ryan. Ben won't even talk to you. You know what he was doing all last night?" Seth asked, but didn't wait for him to reply. "He locked himself in his room looking at old pictures of him and Aden. You need to be there for them Ryan. I need you to let me help you." Seth stopped talking and saw Ben standing on the bottom step of the staircase. "Ben, are you okay?" Seth asked. Ben looked like he was going to break down, which would be fine. He hadn't cried once since his twin brother's death.
Ben didn't say anything and stood their looking at his dad. His dad looked like crap. He could also smell him from where he was, and it wasn't the greatest smell.
"Ben, I don't want you going to school." Ryan said, walking up to him.
"I need to." Ben replied, his voice hardly audible.
Ryan looked back at Seth who just stood there watching the two of them. "Look Ben, I'll go get changed and take a shower and we'll go do something. Do you want that?" Ryan asked.
Ben shook his head. "Can I go over to Grandpa's?" Ben whispered.
"Grandpa's? Why would you want to go over to Grandpa's?" Ryan questioned. He knew his kids enjoyed being around Sandy. There was something about Sandy that Ryan couldn't understand. He knew he, himself, was sucked into Sandy when he first met him in juvie. Whatever his kids saw in him, he once saw in him.
"He's not like you." Ben mumbled, walking pass him.
Ryan stood there stunned and tried to shake off what his son had just told him. He didn't know what to say to Ben. Instead of trying to think of something he ignored it and walked upstairs to his bedroom.
Seth shook his head. He didn't understand Ryan at all. How could he do that to Ben? He needed to talk to Ben, but instead, he left him without talking to him. Seth turned away from his thoughts and went into the kitchen.
Ben was sitting at the table, waiting for something to happen.
"Why don't you go change? Then I'll drive you and Conner over to Grandpa's." Seth said, "Oh, and, tell Conner to get dressed." He added.
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Seth walked into Ryan and Marissa's house and sighed, as he saw Ryan lying down on the couch watching T.V. Ryan looked up from the T.V as he saw Seth walking into the living room.
"Thanks." Ryan said, "For driving Ben and Conner to your parent's house." Ryan threw his feet over to the ground and sat up.
"No problem." Seth replied, dryly. "Where's Marissa and Summer?" He asked, noticing that Summer car was not in the driveway.
"She finally got Marissa out of the house. They are out for some brunch, then they are going to go shopping."
"Good. She really needs to get out of the house." Seth said, sitting down next to Ryan. "Hey, why don't we go do something?" Seth asked.
"No, I'm still a little sick from last night. I think I just want to lay low for awhile." Ryan replied.
Seth nodded his head and slouched back into the couch. They were watching some stupid talk show that was covering teenage pregnancy. He didn't know what he was going to do today, now that Ryan didn't want to do anything. He wasn't going to force Ryan into going out. He was obviously dealing with a hangover and Seth knew to back off.
"How's Ben?" Ryan asked. He knew he shouldn't have left Ben this morning without talking to him and explaining everything. He needed to be there for Ben and he wasn't.
"I tried talking to him but he doesn't want to talk. I'm sure he'll be fine though." Seth said, reassuring him. "I'm sure Dad's going to get him talking and stuff. You know how lawyers are." Seth laughed. "Ben's so much like you, it's almost freaky, you know."
Ryan nodded. "How's Conner?"
"Well, he was happy he didn't have to go to school today."
Ryan laughed. "Yeah, that's him. He's not into school as much as Aden is…" Ryan stopped himself. "….. Was, I mean." Ryan started to shake and stood up. "I'm going to go do some work in my office. If you need anything, just ask." He said, leaving the room.
"Wait—"
Ryan stopped and turned around to face Seth. His eyes were glazed with tears. "What?" He asked.
"I don't want to sound like my Dad or anything, Ryan. But I think you should really talk about what happened. I'm not stupid, you know." Seth said. "I can see you bottling up every emotion you've got in you. It's not healthy. You need to talk to someone—anyone. Me - I'm your brother, Ryan."
Ryan shrugged. "Thanks Seth, but I really don't want to talk about everything that has happened right now. But I promise, once Ben and Conner come back this afternoon, I'll talk to them and Marissa."
"Okay." Seth said. Ryan walked off and closed the door to his office behind him.
As soon as he got to his desk in the middle of his small office, Ryan collapsed into the chair and started to cry. Aden was dead, Ben won't talk to him, Conner doesn't understand what is going on and Marissa is pregnant with their 'third' child, which she is not taking care of by sleeping in and not eating.
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"Okay, so I'm going to take Conner with me to the office. Did you want me to take Ben too?" Kirsten asked, gathering her papers from the kitchen table.
Sandy shrugged and went into the den. "Ben, do you want to go with Grandma to work or stay here?"
"Here." Ben replied, not looking up from the game he was playing against Conner.
"Okay, Conner, you're going with Grandma to her work." Sandy said.
Conner dropped his controller, "Is Dad going to be there too?"
"No, your dad's at home today."
Conner nodded. "Good, I don't like it when he's there; he never lets me go anywhere." Sandy laughed at him and guided him into the kitchen.
"Okay, you two have fun." Sandy said with a smile, and then kissed Kirsten.
Once Kirsten was gone, Sandy went into the den to take over the playstation and hopefully win a few games. Ben was playing one of Seth's favorite games, 'Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5'. He knew he had competition.
"So, how are you Ben?" Sandy asked, trying to grind a railing on the game.
Ben shrugged. "You suck at this game." Ben informed him.
Sandy laughed. "I know….I was never into playstation a lot." He continued playing with Ben on the playstation in silence.
Ben paused the game and turned to his Grandpa. "Where did my dad go last night?" He asked.
"He…" Sandy hesitated. "He went over to Uncle Trey's house."
"He got drunk, didn't he?" Ben questioned.
Sandy nodded his head to Ben. He didn't know how much he should tell him. He was only ten and he should be hearing this from Ryan, not himself. But he knew that Ryan wasn't that greatest when it came to talking about feeling. So, Sandy gave it a shot. "Is there something bothering you, Ben?" Sandy asked, putting his playstation controller down on the coffee table.
Ben shrugged. "I've just never seen him drink before."
"Well, your dad's a little stressed out right now and he's not thinking straight. Everyone misses Aden, especially your Mom and Dad. And I know you do too. It's okay to talk about how you feel too, Ben." Sandy added. "Your dad was, well still is, but he's not one for talking. Well, you know the story of how he ended up here, right?" Sandy asked and Ben nodded his head. "He lost his family when he came to live here. And in losing Aden, all those feelings are coming back and it's hard to him to handle. It's hard for anyone to handle. You need to be there for them, as much as they need to be there for you."
Ben nodded his head in agreement. "Well, what about when the new baby comes? What will happen then?"
"What do you mean, Ben?" Sandy questioned.
"They're going to forget about Aden and the new baby will take his place." Ben admitted.
Sandy was caught by Ben's words. "No, they would never in a million years forget Aden. And the new baby will take no one's place, okay?"
Ben shook his head. "I don't want another brother or sister. I just want Aden back." Sandy could see tears forming in his eyes and embraced him into a hug.
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"Coop, wasn't that fun?" Summer exaggerated while she got out of the car
Marissa shrugged. "I think I'm going to be sick." She opened the car door and ran inside the house.
Summer grabbed the bags from the bag of the car and walked inside. Seth was standing in the foyer with his arms crossed. "Um, what just happened?" He asked, "What's wrong with Marissa?"
"She's sick, are you blind?"
"Well, if you're my guide dog, sure! I'm blind." Seth said, laughing. He went over to her and grabbed the stack of bags in her hands. "What the hell did you guys buy?"
"Well, I picked out some cute outfits for Marissa and the boys." Summer said, rummaging through one of the bags. "Isn't this cute?" She asked, holding up a little T-shirt.
"Is that for Conner?" Seth asked.
Summer shook her head. "No, it's for you." She said dryly.
Seth laughed at her and went to go get Ryan. He knocked on his office door but didn't hear anything, so he walked in.
Ryan's head was in his hands looking down at a family photo taken last year.
"Uh, Marissa's back from shopping, Ryan." Seth informed him. "Are you going to be okay? 'Cause, I was thinking of asking Summer out for dinner tonight."
Ryan looked up at him; his eyes were glazed with tears. "No, go ahead, I'm not asking you to stay here, you know that. Do whatever you want. I'm fine." Ryan got up. "I'll go talk to Marissa." Ryan left the room and went upstairs, while Seth went back into the foyer to talk to Summer.
"Hey, Summer." Seth said, waving. "You're still here."
"Cohen, what do you want?" She asked. She knew he was up to something.
"I would like to ask you out for dinner, if that's okay?"
Summer smiled at him and blushed. "Sure, but are they going to be okay? I think Coop is really sick."
"Ryan's with her right now. I'm sure she's fine." Seth said, putting on his shoes. "They should be kid free until later tonight. My parents are dropping Ben and Conner off later in the evening. So, that means I should be home by nine. Is that okay?" Seth asked.
Summer nodded her head. "Sounds great, Cohen."
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Hope you guys liked this chapter….I wasn't sure where I was going with it. Next chapter should hold a lot of Summer/Seth bonding.